a lot has changed for me (and the world) in the silence since my last round-up of wholesome goods. for a while i tried to make it fun and elaborate, getting dense and esoteric with my writing style while sharing some interests of mine throughout the year. most recently, and in the midst of my breakdown as i realized people were less and less interested in actually reading anything longer than a paragraph, i decided to write even more and dive even deeper into the weird. although i had some fun, it was at the expense of some of my dedicated few friends who still wanted to support me in my annual dalliances with recommendations and light critique. i did it for me. i liked it, i was good at it. and i was really... i was alive. anyway, i still didn't really make a ripple (for my audience, for myself) and i took some time off in the middle of the project (and indefinitely) to figure out what i actually wanted to do with my writing and my propensity to consume large quantities of media every year.
on that front, i'm not really sure i have an answer. since the beginning of facebook, i have posted recommendations of things i have consumed and enjoyed. after a while, i realized that spending too much time explaining why i enjoyed these things either created some sorta debate room or discouraged others from developing their own thoughts about said-thing by engaging with it. so i opted for a very simple imperative formula: "watch _____", "read ______", "play ______". i've had varying success with those statuses depending on the media (films always tend to get more interactions, books less so, games barely), but in recent years it's become somewhat of a long-standing joke for a lot of my friends and followers or else a "yeah thanks, i know" for those already initiated in the product. the annual blog became a side-project that was intended to alleviate my desire to elaborate and talk about a thing i enjoyed or was challenged by. in an age where people are less likely to read and would rather engage with a tweet or comment thread (or, in the mind-boggling case of Discord, participate in a perpetual scroll of increasing girth), i continued my sisyphian pursuit, rolling ever onward for attention.
anyway... blogs suck. that's why i'm happy to announce i'm still gonna try and keep this ball rolling, be it uphill or whatever. i still enjoy writing despite my periods of dormancy and blockage. this year i won't be crafting an elaborate scheme to get you to read my interdimensional-wasteland fiction (specifically, i apologize to justin and connor who would independently fund my publishing if they had the means (i know this, and i love you)). but i will have some bits about film, books, and games. in the interest of me actually producing something worthwhile, i will restrict my writing to pithy paragraphs of substance, something i will appreciate in the long-run and i'm sure whatever readers wander nearby will as well. it'll be something akin to my earlier "media i consumed for the better" posts of old, but hopefully more insightful and less.. uh, needlessly wordy. i had just received my english degree, i had to flex my junky (read: bad) grammar gymnastics somewhere.
if you've gotten this far, thanks! means a lot. i'm doing this for me, i have to remind myself that writing is a passion of mine, a passion in need of pruning and whittling and much more practice. but it means a heap and a bushel that i don't have to do it on my lonesome. so keep an eye on the horizon and we'll be in touch! i plan on having these finished and posted over the first three days of the new year, so look forward to that.
and, again, thanks.
